FIRST OFF . . .

Hundreds of directors, writers, actors and other Hollywood union members picketed the Burbank Studios for more than an hour Thursday in support of the Directors Guild of America. The guild continues to negotiate toward a new contract while a strike may be called in a few days. Director-writer James Brooks (“Terms of Endearment”), actor Harvey Korman and William R. Robertson, executive secretary-treasurer of the L.A. County Federation of Labor, were among a crowd that a guild spokesman estimated at 1,000. The picketing was orderly, and marchers carried signs that read “Coming Soon? On Strike.” The demonstration was “almost festive,” said Jack Egger, chief of security for the studio that houses Warner Bros., Columbia Pictures and other production companies.